Imprinted
by con queste ali rotte
Summary: The Composer overhears Beat thinking about hanging out with Neku today, and decides to go along to watch. For fun, he imprints some things into Beat's mind, and gets some reactions from Neku that he rather likes. Onesided JoshuaXNeku OneShot. R and R.


Another JoshuaXNeku type of thing. I'm starting to enjoy writing things like this now. XD

Note that writing_ '__like this_' will be the thoughts of random people.

_**Writing like this **_will be in Joshua's mind.

Also, this is written one-sidedly, so even though it's in 3rd person, it will revolve around Joshua's thoughts.

R and R, please. Thanks a bunch.

--

'_I gotta get to that ramen shop, or Reiko's gonna kill me…'_

'_I wonder if he got my e-mail yet…'_

'_This really isn't my day; First I lose half my money, now my hair's a mess…'_

The young Composer sighed as he read the thoughts of people passing by. All day, he'd been doing this, as he sat atop the roof of one of the highest buildings in Shibuya. Fortunately for him, the building overlooked the busy Scramble Crossing, so he could have as much fun as he wanted, looking into thousands of people's heads, maybe even imprinting a few things here and there. If you could call that fun, that is.

But Joshua wasn't here just because he was bored, oh no. He'd overheard the thoughts of a certain blond-haired boy, saying how he was going to meet up with this boy Neku at Scramble Crossing this afternoon, and he couldn't shake the idea of going out and seeing it for himself. After all, he hadn't seen the orange-haired boy in a while, and he'd been thinking a lot of him lately…

Another sigh. Joshua scans the area one more time. It's nearly 5 o'clock now. Unless Beat had gotten the time wrong-- which was a possibility, considering he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box--, they were either here before, coming later, or not coming at all. The thought of those things happening turned the Composer's lips into a frown. Surely, he hadn't been wasting his time here. Surely, he was going to see him. Surely…

He shook his head, as if shaking it would make all the thoughts in his head disappear, and then decided to read a few more minds. So he closed his eyes and turned in a random direction, and stayed silent, just listening for that while…

'_Wow, that girl over there is so pretty…'_

'_I can't wait to get to Ramen Don and see the Prince!…'_

'_Man, all Beat does is talk about his skateboard...'_

At the third statement, Joshua's eyes opened, and he leaned over the edge of the building, eyes darting in every direction. He heard it; He heard the voice he so longed to hear for all this time. After saving Shibuya, after that one last 'game' they shared, Joshua hadn't seen him at all, because he wasn't supposed to. _**But no one ever said that I couldn't watch him from afar, right?**_

The Composer's eyes stopped when he saw the familiar spiky orange head of Neku Sakuraba, and the black hat that rested on Daisukenjo Bito--Well, Beat--'s head. He trembled a bit, from the excitement; the joy illuminated his pale face at that very second. As he watched them walk, he felt the sudden urge to leap off the building and pull Neku into a hug. But he couldn't, he knew that much, no matter how bad the urge was. So he leaned over more, watching the two, straining his ears, trying to hear the conversation going on between the two.

"So, er, how's Rhyme?" Neku's voice sent a shudder down Joshua's spine. He hadn't heard this voice in quite a while; No matter how many times he tried to go see Neku since their 'game', Mr. H. had always been able to persuade him otherwise. It was Mr. H's fault that he'd been without seeing his obnoxious little friend. And it killed him inside, a little bit. But this time, he made the decision for himself, and went out, if only this once, to spy a bit.

Joshua closed his eyes once more, and listened to their talking, paying most attention to Neku, of course. He'd imagined being able to see Neku once again; He imagined his smile, his voice, his laugh… And he'd imagined it all so well that it was scary. But then, he was the Composer. _**Maybe that came with the whole Composer deal… though I'd highly doubt it.**_

While they talked idly about the weather, it came into the Composer's mind to imprint something into Neku's head. He wanted to imprint his name, Joshua, or even Yoshiya, into Neku's mind. Just so he could hear what Neku had to say about him. _**But then, why, all of a sudden, would he mention me? **_The boy furrowed his brow in frustration. _**Talking about how sunny it is, and then suddenly mention a friend whom you haven't seen in ages? And Neku isn't stupid. **_His frustration lessened when his amethyst eyes rolled over to the blonde. Beat wasn't too smart, and he usually said things out of the blue….

He smirked now, and looked into the boy's mind. All there was in there was Rhyme, hanging out with Neku, Skateboarding… He was, by far, the most simpleminded person that Joshua had ever used for imprinting. But, oh well. At least he would be coming in handy for his communication to Neku. At least he'd be useful for something. "Joshua." He whispered his own name as he toyed with the blonde's mind, imprinting his own name into it. "Ask about Joshua."

Whatever it was that Beat was talking about was abruptly stopped, because he suddenly blurted out, "Joshua!" The Composer giggled slightly; this posed to be more interesting than it seemed before. It was then that he decided that he'd need a much better seat to watch this. So he hopped off the tall building, and landed on his feet without any problem. People turned to stare at him like he was insane, but he casually brushed it off, and walked a few feet behind Beat and Neku.

Neku turned to stare at his blonde, dull-witted friend. "Excuse me?"

Beat looked at the ground. He wasn't sure himself why he'd just blurted the name out. As he'd recalled, he didn't know anyone named Joshua. Unless he forgot, which he did quite often. Joshua stifled a giggle; It was funny, seeing Beat trying to think so hard in this way. He kind of felt bad for the kid, so he decided to imprint something else. _**The gray-haired boy that you were paired with on your second week.**_

"The gray-haired boy that you got paired with on your second week of playing the Game." Beat obediently stated. Neku gave him another look. Why did he even bother mentioning the kid? After the whole 'Let's play a game by shooting each other in the head, tee hee'--and yes, he did add that 'tee hee' in his mind, because he felt it necessary--, he didn't really want the name Joshua to be mentioned around him. The last thing Neku needed was for all that headache to come back.

The Composer frowned at those thoughts in Neku's mind. **I **_**was a headache? What about Beat and his random rambling on about nothing? **_Joshua started to think that this whole thing, following them both and imprinting his name into Beat's small brain, was the wrong idea. But when Neku began to speak, he thought that maybe, just maybe, there was something good to be said. So he waited for the conversation to begin, silently walking behind them.

"Yeah.. What about him?" Neku asked Beat. "You just blurted out his name, so this must be kinda important, right?"

_**Not really.**_ The Composer continued to imprint, so that his cover wouldn't be blown. _**I just wonder what happened to him.**_

"Not really. Just wondered what happened to him, ya know? I mean, he's been gone for too long. Sure, he did some crazy things, but at least he could come out and say Hi once in a while, right!?" Beat scratched his head. "Just disappearin' like that, it ain't normal, you know. And we were--well, you guys-- were friends, weren't ya?"

The Composer was surprised that Beat could even hold up a conversation as good as the one about to come. As for Neku, he hesitated with his answer. Sure, they didn't end on the best terms. Sure, Neku still didn't trust him. Sure, the guy was about to destroy everything he knew and loved. Any normal person would want to hate someone for doing things like that. And yet, he still couldn't say that he hated Joshua, no matter how obnoxious, annoying, and strange he was.

"Yeah. We were friends." Neku nodded slowly, almost sadly. "We still are. And yeah, I wish he'd come back and say hi too. People worry, you know." Beat raised an eyebrow, and Neku added hastily, "Yes, that means that I'd like to see him back sometime because I'm worried too. Happy?"

"Hey, dude, no reason to get all angry on me. I was just wondering." Beat raised up his hands in defense, but he couldn't help but grin. "It's nice to see that you don't completely hate him, though."

"I don't hate him." The words shook Joshua from the inside. _**But, how could he not…? **_"I just… don't like the things he did. But I don't hate him. He's a friend."

"Oh. Kay, dude. So anyway…" And the conversation ended there, with Neku admitting that Joshua Kiryuu, no matter what he had done in the past, was still considered something of a friend to Neku. Joshua felt some kind of bubbling happiness inside. He didn't expect Neku to hate him, but he didn't expect him to love him either. So hearing the words come from the redhead's own mouth was a very joyous occasion for the Composer.

Joshua wanted to thank him for it. Though he knew he shouldn't, he reached out towards Neku, moving a bit faster so he was only a couple of inches away from the boy. He reached out and gently touched one of the spikes on the back of Neku's head. He didn't feel it, so it was still well. The smell coming from Neku was somewhat sweet, and in a sense, it drove Joshua to a point where he needed to touch _him_. Just being close to Neku wasn't going to be good enough this second. _**After all, if this is the last time I'll spy on you, Neku, it should be worthwhile…**_

Neku suddenly stopped walking. His body froze, and shudders went down his spine as he felt someone wrap their arms around his waist, and then he felt someone put their lips to his neck. It was a strange, all too real feeling, causing goosebumps to appear all over his arms. He turned around suddenly, but when he turned, there was no one there. Just busy people walking past him in Scramble Crossing. He could have been imagining it, sure, and he probably was, but it felt just like the real thing…

"Yo, Neku! What's the hold up? Let's get goin'! I'm hungry!" Beat's voice brought Neku back to Earth, and he shook away the feeling as he ran up the street to catch up to Beat. And from the highest building he could find, the Composer sat on the roof, watching intently, as if he'd never moved from his spot.

For the next few nights to come, Joshua found himself sitting at the edge of Neku's bed, watching him sleep. He wanted more than that, but seeing the circumstances, this would have to do. After all, watching from afar was better than living without seeing him at all.

--

Thanks for reading, Hope you liked.

This is only my second JoshuaNeku type thing, So I'm going to keep writing more so I could get better at writing one shots and pairings and such.

So like I said, R and R, please! Thanks.


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